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1989 1985 The old, hand-dug tunnel at Wente Sparkling Wine, formerly Cresta Blanca Winery, was repaired and modernized by Alf Burtleson Construction. Working with the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, Jan Shrem sponsored an architects' competition to determine who would design his new winery, Clos Pegase. From a field of 96 entrants, the judges selected renowned Princeton architect Michael Graves, who was commissioned to build both a "temple to wine and art" at the base of a knoll and a home for Jan and wife Mitsuko at its summit. Within the knoll, 20,000 feet of aging caves would be excavated, including a cave theater, a dramatic setting for celebrations, presentations and special events. Hans Faden Winery's charming small tunnel soon became the site of elegant dinners and is now known as "the wedding cave." Rutherford Hill first hosted Carols in the Caves, featuring the music of David Auerbach. 1986 Alf Burtleson always considered saving valuable agricultural land for production a key benefit of wine caves. His company created Newton Vineyards' wine caves, the first to be directly under a vineyard high on Spring Mountain. It was also the first time Dale Wondergem used a laser to guide his wine-cave excavations. 1987 Alf Burtleson Construction began Phase Two of Far Niente, a project that marks contractor Daniel Bazzoli's entrée into cave floor finishing. A new era began as a second cave-building company entered the valley. Alf Burtleson Construction was in demand, and prospective clients were learning that it might be a year or more before their projects could begin. Alf Burtleson Construction created caves at four new sites this year and added tunnels at Schramsberg Vineyards. Alf Burtleson Construction created caves for Anderson's Conn Valley Vineyards, home of Eagles Trace Winery; White Rock Vineyards; Sterling Vineyards; and Sinskey Winery, as well as a test tunnel for Chandon that is now used for storage. A joint venture—the British Brewing Company, Whitbread, Piero Antinori of Tuscany and the champagne house of Bollinger—hired Dick Petterson to be the general manager of Atlas Peak Winery, now known as Antica Napa Valley. Dick had a degree in engineering and a farm-boy approach to life that meant doing things for oneself. Dick was already sold on the idea of caves but not on the idea of waiting a year for Alf Burtleson Construction to build. Whitbread sent him to England to visit coal miners in operation, and upon return he leased a Dosco. Dick, his young vineyard manager Glen Salvia, and Jim Crowley—"a jack-of-all-trades fellow who was dynamiting rocks in the developing vineyards," as Dick recalled—constructed their own 30,000-square-foot cave system. The rock was in a strong matrix of lava and boulders that was so hard they did not need to apply shotcrete. Once the cave was completed, the Atlas Peak group sold the mining equipment to Glen Ragsdale and Russell Clough who had just started up their own business in the valley, but not before Jim Crowley took the roadheader over to the eastern regions of Napa County and created a small cave complex for Moss Creek Winery. Not wanting to wait, the new Pine Ridge Vineyards decided to hire the new company Underground Associates, headed up by Glen Ragsdale and Russell Clough, who created 10,000 square feet of tunnels for the winery for their first job. 1988 Alf Burtleson Construction created additional tunnels for Sterling Vineyards and new caves for Folie à Deux Winery and Forman Vineyard. Phase Two of Newton Vineyards' cave undertaken by Underground Associates. 1989 Alf Burtleson Construction returned to two previous clients. At Far Niente, it created 15,000 square feet of new tunnels, while enlarging the original tunnel. At Clos Pegas, it created additional tunnels and the large underground room with a stage and art niches. Dick Harding formed a company of three generations of hard-rock miners. Using dynamite, pick axes and shovels, they carved through limestone and schist to create Ironstone Vineyards' cave, the first in Calaveras County. Underground Associates created a cave for Dunn Vineyards, Randy Dunn's winery. As the decade came to a close, 20 modern wine-cave complexes had been established. It was a pioneering time when no fire regulations or building permits were required, but that was all about to change. S. Anderson Moon Mountain (Carmenet) Daniel Bazzoli being observed by aspiring young cement workers.

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